Posts Tagged ‘Ntaganda’


May 28, 2010

Lubanga Trial: Identities Of Child Soldiers Queried

By Wairagala Wakabi

The main highlight of the Thomas Lubanga trial this week was the presentation by the defense of several documents, which allegedly showed that at least seven prosecution witnesses who claimed to have been child soldiers lied about their identities. The documents included school reports and registers from the institutions which various prosecution witnesses claimed they…

May 24, 2010

Witness Tells Lubanga Trial He Gave Investigators False Information

By Wairagala Wakabi

A former child soldier in the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) today admitted to contradictions between his testimony in court and the statements he made to prosecutors in 2008. The admission came after Thomas Lubanga’s defense counsel, Jean-Marie Biju-Duval, read out several paragraphs from the statement which the former child fighter who is referred to…

March 19, 2010

Lubanga Trial Hears That Intermediary Coached Prosecution Witness

By Wairagala Wakabi

A former prosecution witness who told court last June that he had lied to investigators of the International Criminal Court (ICC) this week took the witness stand once again and stated that an intermediary of the court’s prosecution investigators cooked up lies which he in turn fed to the investigators. The witness added, however, that…

March 17, 2010

Former Prosecution Witness Says Intermediary Coached Him

By Wairagala Wakabi

A former prosecution witness today told the Thomas Lubanga trial that an intermediary of the International Criminal Court’s prosecution investigators fed him lies, which he in turn related to the court’s investigators. The witness added, however, that the investigators from the Office of The Prosecutor (OTP) did not know that he was telling them lies.…

March 12, 2010

Court Told ICC Prosecutors’ Agent Coached Witnesses

By Wairagala Wakabi

The role allegedly played by intermediaries of International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecution investigators in corrupting evidence remained in focus this week in the war crimes trial of Thomas Lubanga. One witness testified at length about receiving money from an intermediary who also allegedly coached him on what to tell prosecution investigators. Another witness gave testimony…

March 8, 2010

Lubanga Witness Says ICC Agents Paid Him to Tell Lies

By Wairagala Wakabi

Judges in the Thomas Lubanga trial today heard how agents of the International Criminal Court (ICC) allegedly paid a Congolese barber who had never been a soldier to lie to the court’s investigators that he was a former child soldier. The agents – or intermediaries – arranged a series of meetings with the man and ICC…

March 6, 2010

Two Testify As Lubanga Defense Reels Off Complaints

By Wairagala Wakabi

The Thomas Lubanga defense this week called two witnesses, but the highlight of the trial was the string of complaints made by the defense lawyers against the prosecution, as well as court reporters and translators. Specifically, the defense protested that despite various interventions by judges, prosecutors were still failing to honor their disclosure obligations. Additionally, Mr. Lubanga’s…

March 4, 2010

Prosecutors Cross-Examine Former UPC Fighter

By Wairagala Wakabi

Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC) today cross-examined a defense witness in the Thomas Lubanga trial about three photographs which showed alleged former leaders of the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC), the group Lubanga is said to have led. The prosecution’s Olivia Struyven showed the photographs to the unnamed witness, and asked him to…

July 10, 2009

Witness Says Ntaganda Killed Child Soldier

By Rachel Irwin

A child protection specialist this week told the International Criminal Court that ICC fugitive Bosco Ntaganda executed a young recruit who tried to escape. Christine Peduto, who worked for the United Nations Mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC), was testifying at the trial of Thomas Lubanga who is charged with recruiting children in…